Apparatus for the photographic reproduction of typographic compositions



April 28, 1964 E. R. DUBUISSON 3,130,656

APPARATUS PoR THE PHoToGRAPHTc REPRODUCTION oP TYPOGRAPHIC coMPosTToNsEDUARDO ROLANDO DUBUISSON April 28, 1964 E R. DUBUlssoN 3,130,656

APPARATUS FOR .TI-IE PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION OF' TYPOGRAPHICCOMPOSITIONS Filed Nov. 25, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 2s, 1964 E. R.DUBulssoN APPARATUS FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION OF TYPOGRAPHICCOMPOSITIONS Filed Nov. 25, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR EDUARDOROLANDO DUBUISSON United States Pater 3,130,656 APPARATUS FR THEPHOTOGRAPHIC REPRO- DUCTION F TYPOGRAPHIC COMPSITIONS Eduardo RolandoDubusson, Av. Jose Antonio 594 bis, Barcelona, Spain Filed Nov. 25,1958, Ser. No. 776,374 Claims priority, application Spain Dec. 9, 1957Claims. (Cl. 95-4.5)

This invention relates to apparatus for the photographic reproduction oftypographic compositions.

In apparatus provided according to the invention an accurate andmechanical resolution is obtained for each line typed in a typewriterand for each line of typographie composition produced on a perforatedphotographic lilm such that the lm can be cut and exactly replaced byanother film if required.

The system according to the invention is of considerable use in theprinting art, and especially for newspapers, since a Writer can beplaced in direct communication with the newspaper editor who can makeany amendments he desires and who can, without further handling, passthe typographie composition produced on the photographic film to theprinting room. The apparatus according to the invention also reducesediting costs considerably.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for thephotographic reproduction of typographic compositions, said apparatuscomprising: a keyboard having a plurality of keys each corresponding toa predetermined character; a rotatable drum for mechanically recordinginformation fed by the keyboard, said drum including a plurality ofdiscs and each disc having a plurality of radially displaceable pinsco-operaating with said keys; a cylindrical drum mounted for rotationabout its axis, said cylindrical drum having on its curved surface aplurality of spaced and parallel transparent strips, each stripincluding a series of signs of 'predetermined size and style;photographic means including a camera mounted opposite said cylindricaldrum, lens and shutter means between the camera and said cylindricaldrum for feeding into the camera signs on said strips; means forproducing relative movement of the photographic means parallel to theaxis of said cylindrical drum to position the lens and shutter meansopposite any one strip of the cylinder; and electro-mechanical means forarranging the information recorded on the rotatable drum and fortransmitting the arranged information to the cylinder for photographicreproduction.

The present invention also provides apparatus for the photographicreproduction of typographie compositions, said apparatus comprising akeyboard which can be operated directly, or remotely from the keyboardof a conventional typewriter, by appropriate electrical connectionmeans; an electro-mechanical arrangement connected to said keyboard andcomprising spacer wedge elements or rod elements displaceableperpendicularly ,to a graduated rule or scale adapted to control andlimit the advance of the writing, which rods, by automatically enteringthe free spaces between words and signs, are adapted to increase saidspaces to justify each line, the justication of the length of each linebeing accomplished by automatically adding together the successivespaces occurring in each line and when necessary increasing this totalspace by an amount required to complete one line; a rotary drum whichcan act as a mechanical memory and which comprises a plurality of discseach having stops which can be displaced diametrically in dependenceupon the key depressions of said keyboard and in accordance with thedepressed signs and letters; a transparent drum which is rotatablearound its axis and the surface of which is provided in a plurality ofspaced circles parallel with one another, with all the signs of apredetermined style and size and which is adapted to perform angularrotations in dependence upon the location of the stops selected in saidrotary drum; a photographic lens with its corresponding shutter, placedopposite said transparent cylinder and with its optical axis coincidingwith the radial extension of a diameter of the cylinder; a photographiccamera which can be moved, horizontally with relation to the verticalaxis of the transparent cylinder, by amounts proportional to thejustiiication eiected on said keyboard for each typed line; automaticmeans for perforating the lrn laterally at the start and end of eachphotographed line; and an electro-mechanical means for synchronizing theforegoing elements and governed by general keys and end-of-line controlkeys, for changing the letter style, releasing the mechanical memory,non-use of a line stored therein and connection for utiiisation thereof.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same maybe carried into effect, reference will now be made to the acompanyingdrawings in which:

FIGURE l is a general schematic diagrammatic side view of part of anapparatus embodying the invention with the electrical connectionsomitted for the sake of clarity,

FIGURE 2 is a partial perspective view of a detail of FIGURE l,

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged section of part of the detail shown in FIGURE 2on line A-A of FIGURE l,

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged view of a second detail of FIGURE l,

FIGURE 5 is a partial perspective view of a third detail of FIGURE l,

FIGURE 6 is a diagrarnamtic side view of a modilication of part of theapparatus shown in FIGURE l,

FIGURE 7 illustrates more fully a fourth detail of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 8 illustrates a device associated with the detail illustrated inFIGURE 2,

FIGURE 9 illustrates dagrammatically a further detail,

FIGURE 10 illustrates diagrammatically still a further detail of FIGURE1, more fully,

FIGURE 1l is a diagrammatic plan view of another part of the apparatusshown in FIGURE l,

FIGURE l2 is a section through line 4-4 of FIGURE 1 and through line B-Bof FIGURE ll.

FIGURE 13 is a section on line C--C of FIGURE 11,

FIGURE 14 is a section on line D-D of FIGURE 1l,

FIGURE 15 is a perspective exploded view of the elements of FIGURE 14,

FIGURE 16 is a diagrammatic side view of a further part of the apparatusshown in FIGURE l,

FIGURE 17 is a section on line E-E of FIGURE 16,

FIGURE 18 is a section on line F-F of FIGURE 16, and

FIGURE 19 is a section on line G--G of FIGURE 16.

According to the invention, it is possible to select characters indesired sequence by means of a keyboard 15 (FIGURE l) or by operatingthe keys of an ordinary typewriter electrically connected to thekeyboard 15, whereby solenoids or electromagnets 16 are energized whichactuate levers I7 to operate pins 18, the same being thrust outwardsfrom discs 19 of which eighty-six or more are provided, depending uponthe required number of characters, and which form what can be called amechanical memory. rlhe set of discs 19 rotates, in the directionindicated by an arrow 5, one step at a time when one of the keys isdepressed, under the control of a pawl or an escapement mechanism 2t)(FIGURE 8) and is driven by a small electric motor 2 (FIGURE 11) lawhich is connected to the shaft of the discs 19 by way of a clutch 3(FIGURE ll). Each letter or sign is associated with one disc and onekey.

The arm 21, at the same time as it projects the pin 18, actuates theshaft 22 which, by means of an arm 23 and pawl 44 and a gear 24 inengagement with a worm 2.5, adds the thickness or breadth of theselected character on the scale 26 (FIGURE l1). Scale 26 is providedwith an index 27 for denoting the measurement. The index 27 isassociated with an audible or visible warning signal.

Inter-word spaces are controlled by wedge-shaped elements 28 (FIGURE 15)which, by means of a corresponding space key 7 (FIGURE 7), gear 29 andworm 30 (FIGURE l1), are moved to the right one at a time, moving alongwith them the needle 31 (FIGURE l1) which moves along the scale 26. Thespaces are added up from left to right and only those which have issuedfrom the space store 32 will operate, because the rods thereof are in arigid position. These rods, like the justifying rods 33, consist ofstrips with a knurled edge along which the wedges 28 slide. The spacekey '7, at the same time as it moves a wedge, moves out a pin in thecorresponding disc and acts not upon the pawl 44 but upon the pawl(FIGURE 8) in order that the discs may be moved without any elect on thescale 26.

After a line has been recorded in the mechanical memory, the key 34(FIGURE ll) is depressed to energize a solenoid 35 which operates aclutch 36 and, by way of worms or worm shafts 3'7, 38, the space wedgeswhich have engaged in the justifying rods 33 are urged in the directionindicated by arrows 4 and move the pointer 31 until the same abuts theindex 27, the line thus being justified. The rod 39, moved by the rod33, operates the eccentric 40, the extent of which is exactly equal tothat of the space wedge 28, so that whenever a pin of the space discoperates on the solenoid 42, the gear 41 receives the correspondingdisplacement which, by means of the worm 43, will produce thecorresponding displacement of a photographic camera S bearing againstsaid worm.

If a line does not require justification, the separation between wordswill be equal to the minimum thickness of the space wedge; on the otherhand, if the space which is lacking to complete the predeterminedmeasurement has had to be compensated for, Whatever the number ofinter-word spaces the eccentric 4%, which is equal to one wedge, willrepresent the part proportional to the number of spaces.

After a line has been recorded and justied in the mechanical memory, theend-of-line key 9 (FIGURE 6) is depressed and, through the agency of thesolenoid 6, releases the pawls 45 of the space gear 29 and of the scalegear 24. In addition, the pin in the corresponding disc which has beenpushed out, when the line has been photographed, is effective to causethe solenoid 6 to be operated to release the pawls 45' of the spaceeccentric and of the camera control gear or ratchet 4I, the releasedmembers being returned to their initial positions by their respectivesprings. The extension of the rod 39 (FIG- URE ll) is then not visiblebelow the scale 26, an indication thus being provided that the new linecan now be justied. As the set of disc rotates, the pins make contact at46, 46', 46", 46"', with the result that the camera is moved through theagency of solenoids 47, the matrix cylinder 48 is retained by means ofthe surrounding solenoids 39, one of which is provided for each verticalrow of letters or signs, and the camera shutter 50 is opened through theagency of the solenoid 51. If the letter or sign to be photographed isin the second, third, fourth or a higher line of the transparent typecylinder, the pin corresponding to the key indicating cursive, fat-facedtype, small capitals, symbols or the like raises the latter cylinder tothe corresponding height through the agency of the solenoids 52.

The matrix cylinder can have more than four type sections provided thatmore solenoids with the respective levers and more raising keys withtheir corresponding discs are added.

The line following the line being photographed can, if required, berecorded in the mechanical memory while the preceding line is actuallybeing photographed. The erase rod 53 (FIGURE 5) returns the pins to theneutral position after each letter has been photographed. As a new lineis being recorded, the machine will photograph one letter of thepreceding line each time that a key is depressed, and if the last linehas less letters in it than the penultimate line, the free key 10(FIGURE 8) is depressed to release the pawl 20 in order that the discsmay be rotated by the motor. When the pin corresponding to the end ofthe preceding line operates the contacts 46, 46', 46", 46" (FIGURE 6),the pawls 45 will have been released, the camera being ready tophotograph the new line which will be ready for justification, and themotor will have stopped; hence the conect key 13 (FIGURE 9) must bedepressed to begin the recording of the next line. On the last line thefree key 10 is kept depressed until the machine has iinishedphotographing.

It should be remembered that the number of letters and spaces receivableper line is determined by the number of pins making up a disc, so thatthe greater the diameter of the discs and therefore the greater thenumber of pins, the more letters and spaces can be accommodated on aline.

If it is required not to photograph a line, the key 11 (FIGURE 10) isdepressed to raise the contacts 46, 46', 46", 46" so that they are notengaged by the pins, the key 10 (FIGURE 8) being depressed at the sametime so that, as the set of discs rotates, the erase rod 53 (FIG- URE l)is operated.

rlhe photographic camera can be loaded with more than nine metres of19.5 cm. iilm or with film of other commercially available sizes.Cameras of any required size can be constructed. If a composition isrequired having dimensions greater than thirty-nine pica characters, thecarriage can be adapted to larger cameras.

The camera slides on ball bearings 54 which are supported by twoparallel members and is moved by the worm 43 in dependence upon thebreadth of the corresponding letters or spaces; this dimension can beset up and varied by means of screws 55 both on the camera feed shaftand on the rod actuating the scale gear 24. The gears 24, 41 areidentical, as are the corresponding worms 25, 43, and the movements ofboth for each letter and sign are also exactly equal. The left-hand partof the camera is provided with a device 56 (FIGURE 17) for graduatingand controlling the movement of the film by points, from one tothirty-six or more points as may be required. The camera, after it hasphotographed a line and is moved to the left by the pin corresponding tothe end-of-line key 9 which, when the contacts 46, 46', are closed,connects one of the solenoids 47 into circuit, operates the lever 57which moves the clutch 58 so that, when the shaft 5@ rotates, a piece oflm is moved on to the extent allowed by the control device S6, so thateach line can be photographed spaced apart from the following line, ifrequired. When the camera returns to its initial position on the rightand after the lm has been moved on and the camera is in position forphotographing the following line, the pin 69, when pressed by adisplaceable guide 61, punches two apertures in the edges of the filmexactly opposite the line to be photographed. These apertures orperforations serve as a guide for cutting out lines which contain errorsand for replacing them by correct lines, the lm being maintainedstationary while each line is being photographed. The lever 62 of thedevice 56 then engages with the guide 61 and returns to its initialposition ready for the next movement of the ilm. To the right of thecamera is a small line counter I4 d which operates independently of thesize of body used in the composition.

The front 63 of the machine (FIGURE 2) covering the set of discs formingthe mechanical memory is made of a transparent plastic material and isengraved at the top with the letters and signs corresponding to eachdisc, with sets of vertical and horizontal lines forming a lattice,through the squares of which the pins corresponding to the last wordsrecorded can be seen, so that if it is required to make a correction,all that is necessary is to lift the transparent cover and press therequired pins` into their neutral positions. The end-of-line key 9 whichpushes out the pin for releasing the pawls 45 also interrupts thecurrent to give the camera time to return to its initial position beforephotographing of the next line is started. When the camera is ready, theconnect key 13 (FIGURE 9) is depressed so that the disc cylinder startsto move again. The pin which interrupted the current will then energisethe solenoid 66 by way of the contacts 67 to release the key 13.

If a composition of mathematical formulae is required, for which purposethe film will have to be wound back, the mechanism S6 is released andthe bottom knobs 12 (FIGURE 16) of the camera spool holder are operated.The amount of film wound back can be checked by operating the mechanism56.

lf a different type face is required, the nut 65 is removed and theelectric lamp and the optical condenser -are lifted upwards, thetransparent matrix cylinder withdrawn and another cylinder placed inposition.

' adapted. The quadrant 64 acts on the levers controlling the scale gear24 and film feed gear 41 by means of eccentrics operated by the sameworm shaft.

Each disc has eighty or more pins so that with relatively large typebodies the maximum measurement provided corresponds to one completerevolution. With the smaller bodies it is not customary to use largecomposition measurements because reading becomes difficult, and solarger discs are not needed. Nevertheless, a composition consisting ofthirty-nine pica characters, body four, can 'be produced. To this end,the composition is broken f down into smaller dimensions of anequivalent sum without any operation of the end-of-line key 9, so thatthe camera does not return to its initial position, whereafter the key 9is depressed and justification is eected at the end of the last section.

The matrix cylinder is moved by the same motor as I that which drivesthe set of discs, by way of a sliding disc clutch 1, so that when thecylinder is braked by the solenoid corresponding to each letter, thesame is positioned correctly opposite the lens and the lighting system.

For normal composition only ten different letter breadths are required,so that these can be obtained using only ten solenoids to control themovement of the camera.

l* However, more solenoids can be used if required.

For headlining, and although at present there is no i suitable tilrnwider than 19.5 cm. commercially available, provision has been made touse, in due course, wider cameras and carriages which can be movedbackwards and forwards, with a View to using lenses for the compositionof large headlines for newspapers, periodicals and other commercialwork. The camera described can be used for this kind of work, the piecesof composition being i cut and joined.

I claim: l. Apparatus for the photographic reproduction of typographiccompositions, said apparatus comprising a keyboard having general keys,an end-of-line control key, letter style control keys, character keys, aspace key and a line cancellation key, and electrical connection meansoperatively coupling said apparatus keyboard to the keyboard of aconventional typewriter; an electro-mechanical device connected to saidkeyboard and comprising wedgeshaped elements, graduated scale controlmeans, said wedge-shaped elements being displaceable perpendcularly tosaid graduated scale control means to control therewith and limit theadvance of the typographie compositions, means actuated bythe characterkeys for originating and transmitting a rst series of signals eachrepresentative of a character in a line of typographie composition,means responsive to said signals and operatively associated with saidgraduated scale control means to provide a summation of the widths ofthe characters represented by said signals, means actuated by the spacekey for originating and transmitting a signal representative of a spacebetween characters and provide a free space representation on said scalecontrol means, said wedge-shaped elements being responsive to saidlast-mentioned signals to enter the free space representations toincrease said spaces to justify each line; a single rotary drumincluding a plurality of discs each having pins displaceablediametrically in dependence upon the key depression of said apparatuskeyboard and in accordance with the character keys and space keydepressed, each said disc having the same nurnber of pins as the totalnumber of characters and spaces forming a single line of the typographiecomposition, each said character key and the space key of said apparatuskeyboard being electro-mechanically coupled to one of said discs, alever for each said character key and said space key, a solenoid foreach said character key and said space key energizable to act on saidassociated lever for actuating one of said pins connected to thecorresponding disc so that said pin is pushed out radially; electricalcontacts rendered operative in response to the displaced pins on all ofsaid discs, a common shaft coupled to all of said discs for turning thesame simultaneously angularly in a single direction, an electric motor,a rst clutch coupling said electric motor to said shaft for rotationthereof, and an escape pawl governing the angular movements of saiddiscs; a

a sive to said electrical contacts to permit rotation of said rotarydrum; a photographic lens with its corresponding shutter, placedopposite said transparent drum and with its optical axis coinciding withthe radial extension of a diameter of the transparent drum; aphotographic camera, gearing coupling said camera to said transparentdrum for movement relative to the axis of said transparent drum byamounts proportional to the dimensions of the typographical characterseffected on said apparatus keyboard for each typed line; automatic meansfor perforating the lm laterally at the start and end of eachphotographed line; and an electro-mechanical means responsive to saidelectrical contacts for synchronizing the foregoing elements andgoverned by said general keys, said end-of-line control key, said letterstyle control keys for changing the letter style by raising saidtransparent drum, and said line cancellation key to control non-use of astored line, and connections for utilization thereof.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said graduated scale controlmeans comprises a graduated scale, arms for actuating the displaceablepins operable by the corresponding space key and the character keys tooperate the shaft of another arm, means including a pawl, a worm andgearing in mesh with said Worm, which during rotation tl ereof displacesto the left said graduated scale on which the spaces corresponding tothe thickness or breadth of each character are added linearly, saidscale including an end-of-line stop and a warning device, said stopcorresponding to the measurement which the line of typographiecompositions is required to have and being operatively connected withsaid warning device.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said graduated scale controlmeans includes a space store, said space key being operatively connectedto said rotary drum t push out said pins in the corresponding disc ofsaid rotary drum and simultaneously to act upon said space store, saidspace store comprising strips with grooved edges serving as a guide forsaid wedge-shaped elements and providing a summation of the spaceintervals and adding them to the summation of the widths of thecharacters.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, including a separate solenoid, aseparate key energizing said solenoid, worm gears rotatable by saidmotor to move said wedge-shaped elements, wherein the typed lines can bejustified automatically by depressing said special key to energize saidsolenoid to operate said first clutch so that the movement of said motoris transmitted to said gears which, as they rotate and advance, movesaid Wedge-shaped elements to increase all the spaces proportionallyuntil the displacement of the graduated scale coincides with theend-ofline stop.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, including a transfer rod drawn bysaid wedge-shaped elements on to an arm the extent of which coincideswith that of one of said wedge-shaped elements, and means coupled tosaid arm including a solenoid, gearing and a Worm to control the lateralmovements of said photographic camera whenever said pins raise said arm.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, including two levers so that thetypographie compositions recorded by the rotation of the pins isretransmitted to the photographic camera in two consecutive strokes bysaid two levers which are raised by said pins previously displaced bysaid arm in response to energization from corresponding solenoids, saidtwo levers being operatively associated with said gearing coupling saidcamera to said transparent drum for determining the lateraldisplacements of the camera relatively to the optical axis of its lensin accordance with the justification of each line; and including asolenoid, and electromagnetic brakes operatively associated with saidtransparent drum for locking of the transparent rotating drum inaccordance with the displacement of said pins, and the automaticoperation of the photographic shutter is effected by said last-mentionedsolenoid once the previous strokes have been made.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, including electromechanical meansoperative in response to said end-ofline key to effect lateral returnmovements of the photographic camera at the end of each line to start anew line, said return movements being effected automatically independence upon the return movements of the controls of said keyboard,depression of said end-of-line key releasing and returning thephotographic camera and wedgeshaped elements.

8. An apparatus for producing preselected and justified lines of typephotographically on film or sensitized paper, comprising a keyboard eachkey of which corresponds to an individual character or function, asingle cylindrical mechanical memory register for receiving and holdingall information in the same order as transmitted from the keyboard, saidregister including a plurality of discs and a splined shaft, said discsbeing keyed side by side on said splined shaft, a plurality of pinsmovable coupled to each said disc for movement radially thereof, anoperating blade operatively connected with each said disc to engage oneof said plurality of pins on each said disc to move radially thereof theengaged pin, each disc representing one of said characters or functionsseparated .one from another by sufficient space to permit the passagetherein of one of said operating blades, said blades project one of saidpins on each of said discs, a solenoid outside said discs for each saidoperating blade energizable to act thereon to project said pin radially,a block of multiple contacts associated with each said disc in the frontthereof and remote therefrom, a cylinder including font means thereonbearing the characters represented by said discs, means to justify acompleted line of characters and to commence a next line,electro-mechanical devices rendered operative by said multiple contactsfor transferring the completed justified line to said font means on saidcylinder simultaneously with the transmission of the next line to saiddiscs whereby to carry the characters represented by said discs of thecompleted justified line, said font means including at least twoparallelly displaced bands adhered to and encircling said cylinder, atransparent material to hold thereon each character for photographicpurposes and arranged on said two parallelly displaced bands, each bandcontaining the whole of the characters represented by said discs butdiffering one from the other in style only of these characters, saiddifferent styles of the same characters always being in one lineparallel to the axis of said cylinder, photographic means comprising acamera and gearing coupling said camera to said cylinder for movementlaterally to the axis of said cylinder and synchronizedelectro-mechanical means for effecting such movement in response to saidjustifying means, means comprising interchangeable objectives accordingto the size of type required and a shutter between said camera and saidcylinder, means for obtaining axial movement of said cylinder to placeany character in front of the camera objective and shutter, means forelectromechanical detection and transmission of the informationregistered on said mechanical memory register to said photographingmeans, and a viewing means associated with said mechanical memoryregister for immediate inspection thereof at any time by an operator,said last-mentioned means comprising a transparent window.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, including electro-mechanicaldevices coupled to said keyboard, a line control including a graduatedand visible scale, said blades slidable between said discs in saidspaces therebetween perpendicular to the axes of same to project theends of said pins and simultaneously add the widths of the characterstyped on said keyboard, such widths being registered on said linecontrol, means for controlling the separation between adjacentcharacters of a line to be photographed and adding any space in width tothe normal width of the characters on said line control graduated scaleand simultaneously controlling lateral movement of said camera in thesame proportion, said justifying means including a line justifyingsystem for adding spaces between words to said line control each time aspacer key on said keyboard is operated and comprising two rows of wedgeshaped elements arranged in one plane with the vertices of one rowengaged in contact with and overlapping those of the other row, twopairs of parallel bars for supporting and locking the bases of saidwedge shaped elements, one pair of said parallel bars being fixed andconstituting a space bar store from which said wedge shaped elementsslide on sliding lock supports one at a time and each time the space keyis depressed to enter said other pair of parallel bars, said other pairof parallel bars being aligned with said one pair of parallel bars incontinuation therewith, intervening means coupled to said linejustifying system for moving said other pair of parallel bars closertogether when the line justifying key is depressed, an adjustableend-of-line limitingstop on said graduated scale, an index fingercoupled to the first space bar transferred and slidable along saidgraduated scale into Contact with said adjustable end of line limitingstop so that the inward movement of the two parallel bar supports slidethe tapered space bars inwardly, thereby pushing said index finger intocontact with said end of line stop because of the increased thickness ofeach of said wedge shaped space bars, so as to justify the line.

10. An apparatus according to claim 8, comprising an escapement mountedon said splined shaft for communicating thereto by means of impulse andlocking pawls predetermined fractional turning movements, and meansrendering said escapement Wheel inoperable so that all of said discsrotate freely, a key provided with a number of radial pins, an elongatedkeyway assembly for said shaft, housings for said pins in the borders ofsaid discs positioned in perfect alignment by said prolonged keywayassembly, said pins being projected radially from their disc housingswhen their corresponding keys on the keyboard are depressed.

11. An apparatus according to claim 8 comprising means associated withsaid discs for removing said pins from their operative position andreturning said pins to their neutral position as soon as theircorresponding characters have been completely photographed, except whenthe line has to be photographed repeatedly.

12. An apparatus according to claim 8, in which said bladelike elementsinclude an intermediate lever and pawl which also act on said ratchetWheel through said intermediate lever and said pawl each time a keyrepresenting a character or sign is depressed on the keyboard, athreaded shaft threaded into the supports of said visible scale, saidratchet wheel being fixed to said threaded shaft, said scale moving tothe left through a distance proportional to the stroke of said pawl andin response to the movement of said ratchet wheel and in accordance withthe width of the character or sign of the key depressed, said scalemoving at the side of said fixed index finger to indicate continuallythe width total of the characters registered on said discs, said indexfinger being fixed only when the space between-word key is not operatedand when operated moves said index finger to the right in a directionopposite to that of said scale when registering individual characterwidths.

13. An apparatus according to claim 8 including a spacer key operable toproject one of said pins, a threaded shaft, a pawl and a ratchet wheelfixed at the extreme end of said threaded shaft, said spacer keyactuating said pawl to rotate said ratchet Wheel, said shaft uponturning moving the group of wedge-shaped-space-width bars to the righteach time the spacer key is operated, one of said bars while enteringtwo line justifying parallel bars moves said index finger to the rightwith respect to said graduated scale thereby adding the width of saidbar to the total width of the characters already registered thereon.

14. An apparatus according to claim 8, including a system ofelectro-magnetic brakes comprising a number of electromagnets equal tothe number of rows of characters to prevent the turning of said cylinderindividually and leave its corresponding character in front of theobjective to be photographed, to transmit to a film character images inaccordance with the projection of said pins in two rapidly followingconsecutive operations, switching contacts closed by said pins toenergize said electromagnets to produce step movements of the camera andsuccessive short periods of immovability of said cylinder and means toopen the shutter of said camera when the film is exposed to thecharacter that forms part of the Writing equivalent on said discs tocomplete the transmission of same.

15. An apparatus for producing photographically on film or sensitizedpaper, preselected and justified lines of type, comprising a keyboardeach key of which corresponds to an individual character or function, asingle cylindrical rotatable register comprising a mechanical memory forreceiving and holding all information in the same order as transmittedfrom the keyboard, said mechanical memory including a common splinedshaft and a plurality of discs, said discs being keyed side by side onsaid shaft, a plurality of pins movable radially of each of said discs,an operating blade for each said disc coupled to said shaft for movementrotatably and radially thereof to engage one of said plurality of pinson each said disc to move radially thereof the engaged pin, each saiddisc representing one of said individual characters or functions andbeing separated one from another by sufficient space to permit thepassage therebetween of one of said operating blades, a solenoid foreach said operating blade energizable to act thereon to project saidengaged pin radially, a block of multiple contacts positioned over eachsaid discs, means to justify a completed line and to commerce a nextline, a cylinder including four parallelly disposed bands, fonts carriedby said bands providing for different character styles,electro-mechanical means rendered oper ative by said multiple contactsfor transferring the corn'- pleted justified line to said fonts, meansto rotate said cyl'- inder in one direction, solenoid operated brakeme'chnism rendered operative in response to said electrical contacts tostop the 'rotation of said cylinder to photograph individual charactersof the justified line, a transparent material to hold thereon eachcharacter for photographic purposes and arranged in quadruple on saidfour parallelly displaced bands, each band containing the whole of thecharacters represented by said discs but differing one from the other inthe style only of these characters, said different styles of the samecharacters always being in one line parallel to the axis of saidcylinder, photographic means comprising a camera, gearing movablycoupling said camera to said cylinder for movement perpendicular- 1y tothe axis thereof, and synchronized electro-mechanical means foreffecting such movement in response to said line justifying means, meanscomprising interchangeable objectives according to the size of typerequired and for changing the shutter between said camera and saidcylinder, means to effect axial movement of said cylinder to change thestyle of characters, means for electromechanical detection andtransmission of the information registered on said mechanical memory tosaid photographing means, and means for imparting movement to saidmechanical memory and said cylinder including an electric motor, asliding disc clutch coupling said cylinder to said motor, a variablethrust slipping clutch coupling said mechanical memory to said motor, anescapement mechanism for said plurality of discs fixed to said shaft forholding same and engageable with said discs to impart a step-by-stepmovement to said plurality of discs comprising the mechanical memory.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,975,439 Uher Oct. 2, 1934 2,231,972 Turner Feb. 18, 1941 2,346,251Bryce Apr. 11, 1944 2,475,497 Harrold July 5, 1949 2,682,814 HigonnetJuly 6, 1954 2,725,803 Tansel Dec. 6, 1955 2,831,410 Walden Apr. 22,1958 2,869,443 Huebner Ian. 20, 1959 2,887,936 Spievak May 26, 1959FOREIGN PATENTS 496,886 Great Britain Dec. 7, 1938`

1. APPARATUS FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION OF TYPOGRAPHIC COMPOSITIONS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A KEYBOARD HAVING GENERAL KEYS, AN END-OF-LINE CONTROL KEY, LETTER STYLE CONTROL KEYS, CHARACTER KEYS, A SPACE KEY AND A LINE CANCELLATION KEY, AND ELECTRICAL CONNECTION MEANS OPERATIVELY COUPLING SAID APPARATUS KEYBOARD TO THE KEYBOARD OF A CONVENTIONAL TYPEWRITER; AN ELECTRO-MECHANICAL DEVICE CONNECTED TO SAID KEYBOARD AND COMPRISING WEDGESHAPED ELEMENTS, GRADUATED SCALE CONTROL MEANS, SAID WEDGE-SHAPED ELEMENTS BEING DISPLACEABLE PERPENDICULARLY TO SAID GRADUATED SCALE CONTROL MEANS TO CONTROL THEREWITH AND LIMIT THE ADVANCE OF THE TYPOGRAPHIC COMPOSITIONS, MEANS ACTUATED BY THE CHARACTER KEYS FOR ORIGINATING AND TRANSMITTING A FIRST SERIES OF SIGNALS EACH REPRESENTATIVE OF A CHARACTER IN A LINE OF TYPOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID SIGNALS AND OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID GRADUATED SCALE CONTROL MEANS TO PROVIDE A SUMMATION OF THE WIDTHS OF THE CHARACTERS REPRESENTED BY SAID SIGNALS, MEANS ACTUATED BY THE SPACE KEY FOR ORIGINATING AND TRANSMITTING A SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF A SPACE BETWEEN CHARACTERS AND PROVIDE A FREE SPACE REPRESENTATION ON SAID SCALE CONTROL MEANS, SAID WEDGE-SHAPED ELEMENTS BEING RESPONSIVE TO SAID LAST-MENTIONED SIGNALS TO ENTER THE FREE SPACE REPRESENTATIONS TO INCREASE SAID SPACES TO JUSTIFY EACH LINE; A SINGLE ROTARY DRUM INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF DISCS EACH HAVING PINS DISPLACEABLE DIAMETRICALLY IN DEPENDENCE UPON THE KEY DEPRESSION OF SAID APPARATUS KEYBOARD AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CHARACTER KEYS AND SPACE KEY DEPRESSED, EACH SAID DISC HAVING THE SAME NUMBER OF PINS AS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CHARACTERS AND SPACES FORMING A SINGLE LINE OF THE TYPOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION, EACH SAID CHARACTER KEY AND THE SPACE KEY OF SAID APPARATUS KEYBOARD BEING ELECTRO-MECHANICALLY COUPLED TO ONE OF SAID DISCS, A LEVER FOR EACH SAID CHARACTER KEY AND SAID SPACE KEY, A SOLENOID FOR EACH SAID CHARACTER KEY AND SAID SPACE KEY ENERGIZABLE TO ACT ON SAID ASSOCIATED LEVER FOR ACTUATING ONE OF SAID PINS CONNECTED TO THE CORRESPONDING DISC SO THAT SAID PIN IS PUSHED OUT RADIALLY; ELECTRICAL CONTACTS RENDERED OPERATIVE IN RESPONSE TO THE DISPLACED PINS ON ALL OF SAID DISCS, A COMMON SHAFT COUPLED TO ALL OF SAID DISCS FOR TURNING THE SAME SIMULTANEOUSLY ANGULARLY IN A SINGLE DIRECTION, AN ELECTRIC MOTOR, A FIRST CLUTCH COUPLING SAID ELECTRIC MOTOR TO SAID SHAFT FOR ROTATION THEREOF, AND AN ESCAPE PAWL GOVERNING THE ANGULAR MOVEMENTS OF SAID DISCS; A TRANSPARENT DRUM ROTATABLE ABOUT ITS AXIS AND THE SURFACE OF SAID TRANSPARENT DRUM BEING PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF SPACED ROWS PARALLEL WITH ONE ANOTHER HAVING ALL THE SIGNS OF A PREDETERMINED STYLE AND SIZE, A SLIDING DISC CLUTCH COUPLING SAID TRANSPARENT DRUM TO SAID MOTOR TO IMPART TO SAID TRANSPARENT DRUM ANGULAR ROTATIONS IN DEPENDENCE UPON THE LOCATION OF THE DISPLACED PINS SELECTED IN SAID ROTARY DRUM, AND ELECTRO-MECHANICAL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID ELECTRICAL CONTACTS TO PERMIT ROTATION OF SAID ROTARY DRUM; A PHOTOGRAPHIC LENS WITH ITS CORRESPONDING SHUTTER, PLACED OPPOSITE SAID TRANSPARENT DRUM AND WITH ITS OPTICAL AXIS COINCIDING WITH THE RADIAL EXTENSION OF A DIAMETER OF THE TRANSPARENT DRUM; A PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERA, GEARING COUPLING SAID CAMERA TO SAID TRANSPARENT DRUM FOR MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO THE AXIS OF SAID TRANSPARENT DRUM BY AMOUNTS PROPORTIONAL TO THE DIMENSIONS OF THE TYPOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERS EFFECTED ON SAID APPARATUS KEYBOARD FOR EACH TYPED LINE; AUTOMATIC MEANS FOR PERFORATING THE FILM LATERALLY AT THE START AND END OF EACH PHOTOGRAPHED LINE; AND AN ELECTRO-MECHANICAL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID ELECTRICAL CONTACTS FOR SYNCHRONIZING THE FOREGOING ELEMENTS AND GOVERNED BY SAID GENERAL KEYS, SAID END-OF-LINE CONTROL KEY, SAID LETTER STYLE CONTROL KEYS FOR CHANGING THE LETTER STYLE BY RAISING SAID TRANSPARENT DRUM, AND SAID LINE CANCELLATION KEY TO CONTROL NON-USE OF A STORED LINE, AND CONNECTIONS FOR UTILIZATION THEREOF. 